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We can only envision the future technology that our
grandkids will be able to use on a daily basis. Future technology will
allow the generation of today to live longer due to advances in
medicine, use more high tech computers and electronics. Future
electronics will go way beyond the iPad using holograms & other virtual
reality technology. What once was believed to be science fiction will
simply be known as science.
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Metamaterials
“Metamaterial” refers to any material that gains its properties from
structure rather than composition. Metamaterials have been used to
create microwave invisibility cloaks, 2D invisibility cloaks, and
materials with other unusual optical properties. Mother-of-pearl gets
its rainbow color from metamaterials of biological origin. Some
metamaterials have a negative refractive index, an optical property that
may be used to create “Superlenses” which resolve features smaller than
the wavelength of light used to image them! This technology is called
subwavelength imaging. Metamaterials would used in phased array optics,
a technology that could render perfect holograms on a 2D display. These
holograms would be so perfect that you could be standing 6 inches from
the screen, looking into the “distance” with binoculars, and not even
notice it’s a hologram. |
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The Flying Car
It was between 1996-2002 NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project
explored the possibilities of antigravity. Society hasn’t ever really
stopped dreaming about flying cars which is deemed not impossible as
there are a rare few that have already been made today. Terrafugia’s
2010 prototype probably the most recent. However the concept seems more
out of question when you consider highway systems in the skys. |
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Transparent alumina
Transparent alumina is three times stronger than steel and transparent.
The number of applications for this are huge. Imagine an entire
skyscraper or arcology made largely of transparent steel. The skylines
of the future could look more like a series of floating black dots
(opaque private rooms) rather than the monoliths of today. A huge space
station made of transparent alumina could cruise in low Earth orbit
without being a creepy black dot when it passes overhead. And hey…
transparent swords! |
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Dream linking
Using pillows with conducting fibres in the fabric, it will be possible
to see monitor electrical activity from the brain. This will not only
show when someone is dreaming, but recent developments indicate that
we’ll also be able to tell what they are dreaming about. It is also
possible (with prior agreement presumably, and when both people are in a
dream state at the same time) for two people to share dreams. One could
try to steer a friend’s dream in the same direction, so that they could
effectively share a dream, and may even be able to interact in it. |
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Plant Perf
Fresh local fruits and vegetables are always so great. They have had a
chance to properly ripen before being brought into the store at
precisely the best time. Unfortunately, in colder seasons there is not
always a lot of local produce available, depending on where you live.
The stuff that gets shipped in is usually picked early and then takes a
while to arrive at its final destination. To keep it somewhat fresh
looking it is often treated with harmful chemicals. By the time you get
it home from the store it has usually lost what little flavor and
nutrition it originally had. Maybe things do not always have to be this
way though. Tesco has developed a concept for a plant perfusion (or
‘plant perf’) system that will allow cut plants of any kind to get the
nutrients they need on their way to the store. Once a plant is cut the
stem would be inserted into the perf and locked in place by pulling up
the top. The main part of the perf, which is made from corn starch
plastic, holds the nutrients that the plant needs to keep from starving.
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